Apparently there has been a development in the Fairford case where a group of people who at the time many presumed to be Muslims were arrested after acting suspiciously around the Fairford Airbase in Gloucestershire. At the time I was holding to the opinion that this could have been yet another police cock up or were innocent ‘patsys’ for a foreign and hostile government. Both reasons I believed would explain why the men who were arrested were immediately released from police custody on bail.
However there’s been some movement in this case and some of the ‘British’ men who were arrested have now been charged with national security related offences.
The BBC said:
Two British nationals have appeared in court in connection to an alleged Iran-linked plot at RAF Fairford in September.
Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, from Westminster, London, has been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, which police earlier said they believed to be Iran.
Nouman Essghir, also 24 and from Westminster, has been charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK on 22 August – weeks before he was arrested near the airbase in Gloucestershire alongside four other men.
The pair appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
A major incident was declared after three suspicious vans were seen near the US-operated airbase on 27 September.
Dozens of residents were evacuated and a large cordon was put up in the area around the base. No explosive materials were found in the vans by police but a quantity of petrol was seized.
The court heard vans bearing the logo “Fuel2You” were spotted close to the base.
In the early hours, the vans came across a Ministry of Defence Police cordon and re-routed to another location.
Police arrived and arrested five men. They later revealed that one had called 999 and reported what was going on.
During the hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Essghir stood in the dock wearing a grey sweatshirt and confirmed his name and address.
Abdulkarim is charged with helping with the plot.
He appeared in court in a wheelchair wearing a checked shirt, jeans and a baseball cap. He confirmed his name and address.
Both men are charged under the 2023 National Security Act.
They were told the case will be next heard at the Old Bailey on 20 November.
The BBC added that another man from the group, a dual UK -Iranian national has not been charged but remains on police bail.
Whilst I have to respect the concept and the law that regards suspects as innocent until proven guilty I have to say that the BBC’s use of the word ‘British’ to describe these suspects is doing a lot of heavy lifting. ‘British’ implies that a person is of the nation of Britain and is part of the British people. From what I can gather these men, because of what they were are accused of being involved in are about as traditionally British as a Shish Kebab is British. This is the sort of textual slight of hand that is all too often practised by the BBC.
There’s no indication from the BBC report that these men have been remanded in custody pending trial so I must assume that they are still on bail. Whilst the case is due to continue at London’s Central Criminal Court, The Old Bailey, in mid-November it’s likely that this will be some sort of appearance to sort out legal and technical matters rather than the start of any full trial. This first appearance at the Old Bailey will more than likely be to thrash out legal arguments concerning this case. Some of this legal argument might be possibly to decide if parts of this case are likely to be held ‘in camera’ or held without reporters or the public being admitted to the trial. If there is Security Service (MI5) involvement in this case then it’s quite possible that parts of the case that deal with their involvement might be held ‘in camera’.
Provided that this case doesn’t fall apart before a full trial I do not expect a trial proper to be held before mid-2027. This is because putting together a trial, especially a trial dealing with serious allegations or one with possible national security implications takes a lot of time.
The point I would like to end this piece with is the thought that is that it is unlikely that the men who are accused in this case might be on offs. It is possible that there may be many more, probably hundreds more men of this persuasion and background who despite being technically British might have negative feelings towards Britain that they have not yet transformed those feelings into any offensive action against the nation.
Link
BBC report into the men charged with the Fairford incident.
Be the first to comment on "The word ‘British’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting here."